Social media agency Social Chain, has launched Social Chain Data, which it describes as “a social-first market research consultancy for the digital age”.

The company said it will tap into the limitless data freely shared online to offer clients a better understanding of audiences and markets. It notes that more consumer data is shared in a single minute on social media than used to be gathered in a year of traditional market research using surveys and interviews.

This data has become more integral to making informed business decisions, with brands using it to guide their thoughts and ideas, but with the vast amount of data available, few know how to source it and utilise it to its full potential. Social Chain Data aims to help brands make better-informed marketing decisions by analysing the vast amount of data available.

The company will conduct audits of a brand’s social landscape, listen to what its customers say online, track brand perceptions, monitor competitor activity, and track emerging consumer trends. It will augment this analysis with interviews of real people, to get a clearer understanding of their interests.

Through its social publishing division, Media Chain, the company has access to 80m fans on social media, segmented into categories including Fashion, Food, Travel, Education, Sports and Gaming. ‘Student Problems’, ‘SPORF’, and ‘Love Food’ are among some of the 400 digital channels owned by Social Chain.

“Gaining social-first insights has become integral to the decisions that we make and the data captured through social media is forever changing how brands operate, both online and offline,” said McVal Osborne, head of data at Social Chain. “This is incredibly useful information, but few know how to gather it, process it, and put it into action. Which is why we’re launching Social Chain Data. As the agency continues to use data for our own decisions, we wanted to offer this to our clients and give them a better understanding of the customers. Business can succeed or fail because of the decisions they make related to their customers – we want to help brands make the best-informed decisions possible.”